Pine Bluff woman running track in her golden years, proving age doesn’t matter

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – An Arkansas woman is racing against the odds every day, showing people across the country it’s never too late to try something new.

The shoes, the track, the warm-up, the speed, it’s a runner’s routine. Today you can see Vickie Liddell running with a different crowd.

“I had no idea when I started running that I would be where I’m at today,” Liddell said.

She sticks out in more ways than one.

“I compete in the 65 to 69 age group,” she said. “I am 68.”

Liddell’s journey didn’t start on the track, but instead at the music hall.

“Even on campus they would find me running from the band room to the principal’s office,” Liddell said.

Liddell runs to the beat of her own drum. She started running track in June of 2019 when she retired from teaching band.

“I would run around the band room, during my prep period and at lunchtime, I turn the lights off,” Liddell said. “It was just like a calling to me.”

She took that calling to the track one day. Her now coach saw her and the rest is history, but just like with anything there were some hurdles along the way.

“It was my first ever meet and I pulled a hamstring in the first 15-20 meters,” Liddell said.

Yet one foot after another, she kept going. over the years also battling a torn meniscus and a gallbladder removal but Liddell didn’t let it stop her. She competed in statewide and regional meets, eventually qualifying for the senior national games.

“Since I retired in 2019, I have 75 medals,” she said. “68 are gold, 5 are silver, two are bronze.”

She runs the 50-meter dash, 100, 200 and 400-meter as well as long jumps.

The kids she practices with are in elementary school and they’re trying to keep up with her, not the other way around.

“I believe the older I get the faster I should be,” Liddell said.

As she adds years to her age she shaves time off the clock.

“I ran faster this last year than when I was 63,” Liddell said.

She has already qualified in several events for the 2025 National Senior Games and she’ll compete in one more state game hoping to qualify in a few other events.

“One step at a time,” Liddell said.

Liddell doesn’t let her age outrun her. The motto “You don’t know unless you try” is what she lives by. She’s inspiring everyone regardless of their age to lace up their shoes, take their mark and go.

“Don’t let this stop you, if you want to do something, just start, if you keep saying that ‘I can’t’ you never will. But you can, you can do more than you think if you allow yourself to go there,” Liddell said.

Liddell has been crushing the competition already this year and she’s currently preparing to compete in the 2025 National Senior Games next year.

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